US.7.c

Analyze the Declaration of Independence and evaluate how the ideas expressed reflected the values and principles of the founders' and influenced development of the United States, with an emphasis on “inalienable rights” as inherent in all people by virtue of their being human meaning that they cannot be surrendered to the government; the rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” being the freedom to live, to protect rights, and to seek happiness as long as it does not violate the rights of others; and the concept of “consent of the governed” and how this differed from rule under a monarch.